ICYMI: To Trump, American livelihood is just another brick in the wall

Quite a bit happened over the holidays. Donald Trump rolled back the Mercury Air Toxic Standards which protect young children from toxic emissions spewed by coal plants, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke left office in disgrace, oh, and the government was and remains shut down, leaving our national parks without park rangers, gutting the EPA of over 13,000 employees and forcing the few who remain to work without pay.

The shut down by the numbers:  

• 800,000 federal employees are without pay, with 420,000 of those employees still forced to work

• 28,800 Forest Service employees -- 80 percent of Forest Service staff -- are furloughed

• 18,300 Department of Transportation (DOT) employees -- 30 percent of DOT staff -- are furloughed

• 16,700 NASA employees -- 96 percent of NASA staff -- are furloughed

• 16,000 National Park Service (NPS) employees -- 80 percent of NPS staff--  are furloughed

• 13,705 EPA employees — 95% of all EPA staff — have been furloughed. Only 750 employees remain at EPA and they are working without pay.

• 7,100 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees -- 95 percent of HUD staff --  are furloughed

• 2,000 janitors, security guards and other federal building workers are going without pay

Beyond the numbers, this shutdown is having very real consequences:

• Drinking water system inspection has stopped

• Power plant inspection has stopped

• Chemical facility inspection has stopped

• Oversight of superfund cleanup has stopped

• Inspections of hazardous waste management sites and chemical facilities have stopped

• Reviews of pesticides have stopped

• Hearings for those displaced by by lead contamination are delayed, putting necessary clean up on hold

• Government agencies have stopped processing Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA)

• Low wage contracted employees are forced to go without pay, while the Office of Personnel Management suggested they barter for rent

• Without park rangers, national parks are overloaded with trash, poop, and vandalism

• A disabled veteran who visits Joshua Tree National Park regularly as therapy for his post traumatic stress disorder is volunteering at Joshua Tree doing ranger duties to keep it clean

• Members of the Navajo Nation are trapped in their homes as federal maintenance isn’t plowing snow covered streets

• The food stamp office in the Department of Agriculture has been cut by 95 percent

• USDA offices that offer loans to farmers have closed

• In DC, the childcare that federal employees who are being forced to work without pay rely on has closed

• In DC, public libraries are closed

• In DC, no marriage licenses are being granted

In response, Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce released the following statement:

“The livelihoods of the American people are clearly just another brick in the wall for Donald Trump as he is happily stopping hundreds of thousands of federal employees from getting paid and leaving our air, water, and public lands without protection. Trump is endangering the public with his dangerous shutdown. He and Senate Republicans should agree to a clean funding package immediately.”